Small Thing Number Twenty Three: Learn Katakana

In my Japanese class, many kids forgot katakana as soon as we passed the katakana test. All they knew how to write is their own names. The reasoning behind this is that katakana is for non Japanese words so we won't exactly be using it that much. It is true that you don't see katakana too much in the textbook, but a textbook and real life are very different.

Look at all the katakana on this sign! すごい！

And this menu! So much katakana when it comes to food.

When I got to Japan, I found that there is katakana absolutely everywhere. Especially in food establishments. Grocery stores and restaurants use a lot of katakana which means if you can read it you can figure out what it says even with a limited Japanese vocabulary. Luckily for me, I actually remembered some katakana and have gotten quite good at reading it since being in Japan because there is so much of it the second I walk out my front door I can practice (quite literally. There is a sign across the street that says ヤマハ). Most of my practice comes from reading the back of ingredient labels on food or on restaurant menus when I feel adventurous. My Japanese tutor brought in some clothing and food ads yesterday to test my katakana skills and I was able to read them all.

For just taking lessons, you don't necessarily need katakana, but it is beyond useful if you actually want to come here. So if you don't know katakana, get out your textbook, a whiteboard, and start writing lots of katakana. Then find some pictures of Japanese food menus (like for a fast food restaurant or something with a lot of English words) and test your skills!

Small Things Number Twenty Two: Put Travel Alerts On Your Cards!

Despite Japan being a rather cash based society, I would recommend bringing a credit card or two with you. You can use them to get cash once there and I believe they can be used to help get you a traveler's visa. From what I have heard, a traveler's visa is what you get when you are in the country for less than 3 months and can prove you have enough money to support yourself during that time, usually that means having a credit card or two.

Most cards nowadays have the function of where if suddenly you are making purchases in a different place than expected they will freeze your card in order to protect your funds. However, that is a very bad thing if you are traveling in a different country. The solution to this is putting travel alerts on your accounts. Basically you either fill out a form, call the company, or see them in person to let them know when you are traveling and where to.

For my Discover card I just searched travel alerts and it took me a page where I could enter in the days I'm gone and where I will be. It was quite easy. It also shows me what to look for in stores and ATMs that will mean I can use my card. Pretty nifty.

My other card is currently annoying the hell out of me but I set up travel alerts on that as well by emailing the company.

Basically just make sure to do this before you try to use your card so you don't suddenly get your account frozen. Planning ahead is very important when it comes to traveling, especially far from home.

Small Thing Number Twenty One: Make Online Lists!

Twenty one posts in the Small Things series! すごいです！

Also thank you to my amazing Japanese friend for showing me the adorableness of すごいです. The reason this is adorable and cute is because すごい means "wow" and です makes things polite and you don't usually see です after すごい. Or maybe you do. I had never seen it before so when I saw it in an email I melted from the cuteness.

Anyway, I'm leaving for Japan in less than four weeks and I have a lot of stuff to organize (also finals...ugh don't remind me). To help organize everything, I have been using that lovely function that has been added to websites just in my lifetime and that is the list making function. Back when I first started using the internet much and having accounts you couldn't really be specific about lists beyond favorites, but nowadays most sites have the option for you to create custom lists. So I've been doing that. And naming all the lists Japan Things because that is how I roll.

First things first I made a list in my email that has all my flight itineraries, directions, and instructions for all my travel. Don't want to have to dig through a ton of emails to be able to find directions. Also, yeah, I still get tons of college emails. Welcome to being a high school student.

I also made a list of things on Amazon that I should get before I go but Amazon can ship some stuff to Japan so that is an option as well. This is mostly for things like power adapters and clothes drying hangers. Just general things that you might need.

And I also made a list on Etsy for more artistic things I could want like a proper wallet, face masks, and luggage tags. You can actually see some of the stuff I'm looking at in this one.

Lastly I have a list on iHerb. iHerb is nice because they can ship some stuff to Japan so if you can't get something there that you really want you can probably order it. Shipping isn't too bad but I'm not sure how long it will take.

And yes that is cereal because cereal is important. Anyway, make all the lists, both online and on paper. Lists are very important to travel. I've been making so many lists I'm starting to feel like Jane Villanueva from Jane the Virgin.

Small Thing Number Twenty: Make a List of Things You Want to Get in Japan!

This applies to things you don't want to lug across the ocean, souvenirs for yourself, and souvenirs for others.

For things I don't want to lug across the ocean, there isn't really a lot right now besides things that just sound fun to get in Japan such as hand towels, reuseable grocery bags, and notebooks. Basically just things I would want to get anyway. If I were actually moving to Japan for a decent amount of time there are a lot of things that I would get there but since I'm only going for two months it makes sense for everything I'm bringing and getting to be able to fit in my suitcase/bags.

As for gifts for others, I have been asking family and friends if they have any specific requests for things they want me to bring back. I have gotten a couple requests so far, such as something from a gashapon machine, something Japanesey, an umbrella, and some clothes.

All of these things will be written down on a piece of paper or in a file on my computer because I am sure to forget them in the packing process or when I get to Japan. Make plans and lists whenever traveling, especially lists. You would be amazed how much falls out of your head during the packing and traveling process.

Small Things Number Nineteen: Make A List of Places You Want to Go!

"I want to go to Japan" is a fairly common phrase for netizens, especially depending on where you go on the internet. Well, maybe it's not common and I just spend way too much time on the weeby side of the internet. If you don't know what weeby means, congratulations on being a functional human being 😁.

Aaaaaaaaaanyway, back to the point. If you are here you probably want to go to Japan (or just find my style of writing entertaining). Japan is a 145,932 square mile/377,962 square kilometer country, so you are probably going to want to get more specific with where you want to go. Also unless you are moving there you are going to have fairly limited time to go places, so you are going to have to plan and prioritize.

Something else I could see being a problem is getting so overwhelmed just trying to exist in a foreign country that you may forget the places you want to go. This seems pretty impossible sitting at your computer at home, but you would be amazed how much the human brain forgets. So do some research before things as simple as buying an apple at the supermarket will be a challenge.

This is my list of places that sound interesting to go. It's outgrowing its sticky note so I will probably transfer it to a file on my computer or a proper piece of paper soon.

Most of these places I found by watching Japan travel youtubers, but there are plenty of other ways to find places to visit. Youtube videos are just nice because you can see the place and have a narrator of choice who is either entertaining to watch or has similar interests as you. My favorites are Abroad in Japan, Rachel and Jun, Texan in Tokyo, and Sharla in Japan. This group just happens to share some similar interests with me and be entertaining to watch. You may find other people or websites more helpful. If you can, ask someone who has been to or lives in Japan about what places they think are cool to visit. There are many places that are really cool but not easy to find on the internet.

Small Thing Number Eighteen: Get an International Driving Permit!

The age at which you can get a driver's license here in the US is 16, but it varies around the world. As it happens, there is something called an International Driving Permit that you are able to get if you are over the age of 18. While driving isn't really necessary in Japan like it is here in the US, there are still some places you can only get to by car. The program I applied to, Ojiya Study Abroad, has cars available for you to drive and since it is a smaller city it wouldn't be super scary to drive in. I'm used to driving in the city, I live near a fairly large one, but it's nothing like a lot of other places in the world.

An International Driving Permit is basically a translation of you driver's license so you can use your home country's driver's license in a foreign country. You have to get it in the same country your driver's license is from and it is only valid for one year. The only places you can get valid permits in America are AAA and AATA. Apparently there are scam places that make fake ones so stick to the big companies. You will need to send the application, two passport style photos signed on the back (I have some left over from getting my passport), a photocopy of the front and back of your driver's license, and the fee related with getting the permit. Links to the forms and more information can be found in the link above.

And of course if you want to drive in Japan, you will have to learn the rules of the road. Every country is a little different, so this is important to learn. Two big things that are different than driving in America is that in Japan you drive on the left side and you don't make right turns on red lights (or left turns because the lanes are on the opposite side in Japan). Some general information about driving in Japan can be found here and at one point I found the Japanese rules of the road in English, but I can't find it now.

Also, I should probably mention...

IT'S MY EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY WHOOOOOO!!!

Small Thing Number Seventeen: Use Your Japanese!

One of the most important parts of learning a language is using it. Considering I live in a country where English is the primary language and the next most popular language is Spanish, there aren't exactly a lot of opportunities for me to practice my Japanese naturally. However, quite a few of my nerdy friends know a little Japanese and there is of course my classmates from Japanese class.

Basically, use it as much as you can. I know very little so I can't use much, but I can use basic greetings and phrases pretty well. Another thing that ends up happening a lot is texting in half Japanese. Since you have more time to think about it, you can either write out full sentences in Japanese or just throw in Japanese words where you know them. For example, you could say "the おんがく on my phone is confusing 私のねこです," which is just "the music on my phone is confusing my cat."

All the people I text in half Japanese are better at the language than I am, so I often find myself having to look stuff up. However, it teaches me new phrases I wouldn't otherwise know. This method isn't for everyone because it can get a little confusing at times. I personally enjoy texting in half Japanese because it does help with repetition and getting used to actually using the language, both of which are necessary steps to learning. Still a lot of studying to do the normal way, though. Ugh second term is so much harder than first term...

Small Thing Number Sixteen: Look into Weather and Clothes!

You should always look into the weather of the place you are going no matter where you are going and no matter how long you will be there. Sometimes you can just google what the weather is like but that won't always work. From what I can tell, Japan is very hot and humid in the summer and fairly cold in the winter. If you can, ask someone who has lived there what it is like so you can get a more accurate idea of what the weather actually does. For example, where I am we tend to have really rainy springs, it goes from 55 and raining to 100 and sunny in about a week sometime in July, the falls are nice, and we get cold snaps in January. All things you wouldn't know unless you asked a local. However, if you can't do this you can also check the weekly weather reports for where you are going. I have Ojiya as one of the cities to have the weather of in the weather app on my phone so I can check what the weekly weather reports are like.

Once you have an idea of what the weather will be like, get together some clothes appropriate for that weather! Also keep in mind that it is hard for westerners like myself to find clothes that fit in Asia so make sure to bring plenty of clothes. Another thing to keep in mind is the style of clothing. Japan is a more formal country so you will be expected to dress nicer. In general Japan is also a more modest country so you have to keep that in mind too. I don't have much advice beyond that considering I have never been to Japan myself but you can get a bit of an idea of what people wear by looking at Japanese clothing sites or watching dramas.

Small Thing Number Fifteen: Get the Google Translate App!

I know I know Google translate has a pretty bad reputation and in general it's best for having a good laugh, but if you know how to use it can be very helpful.

My Japanese teacher said Google translate was horrible for sentences but it was pretty good for individual words. I use it a lot while doing homework so I don't have to dig through a dictionary or handouts.

Now why the app specifically? First of all it's easier to use than the browser version. Not a huge difference but I like being able to hit a button and have it pop up. The second thing is something that isn't in the browser version and that is the picture button. Basically you point your camera at the text (such as kanji you don't know), take a picture, highlight what you want translated, and it pops out an answer.

I wanted to see how well it worked so I picked up my 卵 egg and gave the function a shot.

Pretty cool, huh? I think there are some other cool functions on the Google Translate app but I haven't messed with it too much.

So basically this is just a good app to have if you are going to Japan and need help understanding words and kanji around you. The even better part is you can download it for use offline as your phone probably won't work in Japan.

Small Thing Number Fourteen: Put Japanese Everywhere!

My Japanese class is back in full swing and now that it's the second term we are doing a lot of kanji. Symbols to represent words is definitely different than English but it actually isn't quite as difficult as you would think. However, it is pretty confusing. I'm still not entirely sure how everything fits together.

Anyway, immersion style learning is best for learning languages and while you can't exactly do that if you are studying outside of Japan, you can try to immerse yourself a bit. I'm lucky enough that my Japanese teacher teaches in Japanese, and while that means I don't know what she is saying half the time it has helped me learn more. The other thing you can do is just put Japanese writing everywhere. How do you do this exactly? Well, here's what I did.

Back in January my whole college got delayed by a week and a half due to snow so that meant a lot of teachers sent out homework before class even started. My Japanese teacher did this and what she gave us to do was memorize the names of various classroom objects. I'm not exactly a flashcard person so instead of making flashcards I just took some of the billion sticky notes I have and wrote the vocabulary on them and stuck they to the respective objects. Most of these have fallen down and gotten recycled now but a couple are still up.

Mado(まど）: Window

Doa（ドア）：Door

Another thing I did that was more of a fun craft project was make labels for my rice containers. One is just sushi written in hiragana (すし） and the other is the kanji for brown rice (玄米）.

And the last thing I did was change the language on my phone to Japanese. It's really confusing at times but I have learned the kanji for now (今) and today (今日） from receiving text messages, which were actually assigned this week anyway. In general it's a bit frustrating and there is a fair amount of katakana but it's still something I would recommend doing.

Under the time it says it is the fourth month, the tenth day, and that it's a Monday.
4月： fourth month (April)
10日： tenth day
月曜日：Monday

My background is a drawing by viannilla on deviantart and you can find this amazing piece of art right here.

Small Thing Number Thirteen: Try New Foods!

I spent the weekend at my aunt and uncle's house to go see a kpop concert and that was super amazing but that's not what you are here for, is it?

So the aunt and uncle I stayed with are the ones that speak Japanese (I have a lot of aunts and uncles) and while I didn't speak much Japanese with them (I don't know much and am too shy), something I did to to expand my horizons was try new foods that are more common in Japan. We went out to eat with my aunt, uncle, and more family that lives across the street (it's so cool) a couple times and while I'm normally cautious with what I try I just told my aunt my allergies and let her order stuff for me. I trust her to not make me try something gross and she was so excited to have me try everything.

First night we went to a Korean barbecue (my first time) and my aunt ordered everything and manned the grill. She recommended what sauces I could eat and what was good with what (beef with thinly sliced daikon radish is so good). It was really cool to see a cook your own food style restaurant considering that isn't super common here in the US. My aunt said it is very normal in Japan and she went to restaurants like that when she lived there. Now just the type of restaurant was entirely new to me and then some interesting stuff was ordered and put on my plate. I wasn't crazy about any of it, but I'll definitely be trying it again. To my limited American pallet, the least odd of the new meats was beef tongue. I live on a farm so that sort of thing is possible for us to order when we get our cows butchered but in general we don't eat it. People who buy from us will order it, though. It was thinly sliced so it wasn't too different from normal beef. Still tasted a little different, though. Maybe a bit like liver, which I don't like so I wasn't super motivated to try more. The next one in my how weird list is squid. It was a flat sheet so it just looked like a hunk of fish. Apparently my grandma and uncle used to get it and tell the rest of my mom's family it was fish XD. It was probably my favorite of the new meats. For some strange reason I liked the texture and the taste was pretty good too. The weirdest, in my opinion, was baby octopus. So there were literally small whatever-the-plural-of-octopus-is-I-have-heard-so-many-different-answers on the grill. A small leg was put on my plate and while I didn't exactly want to try it I was on a mission to try new foods I grabbed it with my chopsticks and ate it. The texture was a little weird and you can feel the little suction cup things, but it wasn't bad. Wasn't too motivated to have another piece but I do plan on trying all of these again.

The next night we went to a Japanese restaurant near my aunt's work and she ordered stuff for everyone, in Japanese even! It was really interesting hearing her talk to the waitresses and I could pick out some of the words and it was really cool. The only slightly odd to my American pallet thing I tried was raw fish, which I'm pretty sure I have had before. Probably my favorite thing there was the fried rice, which we were given spoons to eat it with. To be honest the thing I'm best at eating with chopsticks is rice but I still used a spoon. The food was quite good and my favorite part of the experience was hearing my aunt and uncle talk to the waitresses in Japanese.

Just a note here but I've been eating with chopsticks every day for the past month or more and I still was not good at chopsticks compared to the rest of my family. Thought I was doing pretty good but it looks like I still have a lot of work to do :).

And the last thing we ate out was ice cream and I was going to order a normal flavor but my aunt suggested I try taro so I said sure and that got ordered. Taro is purple potato, by the way. None of the flavors our group ordered were normal by American standards. We ordered green tea, black sesame, and taro flavored ice cream. I tried them all and just saying but mine was the best. It was a really pretty light purple and tasted interesting and sweet. Everyone kept stealing from mine so that's a pretty good indication that it's good XP.

This was basically just me talking about what foods I tried this weekend but the moral of the story here is to go try some stuff that is normal in Japan so you can get used to it and find what you like before you get there. If you have a friend or relative who you trust to pick out good stuff for you to try go out to eat with them. My aunt was very happy to share what she liked with me so I'm sure people would be happy to help you pick out something good.

On a side note, now I'm going to go look for taro ice cream in the grocery store because that was really good. Maybe if I had tried taro ice cream a couple years ago instead of azuki beans this blog would be called Taro Ice Cream. Doesn't have quite the same ring to it but both are really tasty ice cream flavors and I highly recommend them.

Small Thing Number Twelve: Start Thinking About Your Pets!

If you don't have pets this doesn't apply to you, but if you do then this is something you are going to want to think about.

So I live on a farm so there are a lot of animals around but only three are properly mine. I have a cat, Duff, and two goats, Liliann and Phryne.

This is my cat Duff

And here we have Phryne and Liliann.

With cats you can actually take them to Japan but it's not really worth it unless you are staying for over a year. I will only be staying for a couple months so that means I have to find someone to take care of my cat while I'm gone. My parents like her so they are happy to take care of her while I am away. I'm going to miss her like crazy, though. Having a pet to come cuddle with you (or scratch you) is really nice and pretty comforting to be honest.

Now with my goats it gets a little more difficult. They are dairy animals and in the end more of livestock than pets. With me not home, there won't be anyone to take care of them and after my trip to Japan I will be leaving for college, so it doesn't really make sense to have someone take care of them for the time I'm gone. Basically I have to sell them. I raised them from the time they were born and also raised their mothers for about that long. Being bottle raised they are very sweet and act like dogs so I feel more of a connection to them than I do other livestock animals. However, I do understand I can't take care of them past this summer so I have to find someone else who will love them. I can hope to sell them to someone I know but of course there is absolutely no guarantee of that. Anyway, they are due to have babies any day now so I will milk them until I have to leave and then we can sell them.

Just to be clear me having to sell my goats is more of an effect of moving away once I get home. Also goats are a pretty odd animal to own so probably not something you will have to worry about. But anyway, make sure to think about what you want to do with your pets while you are in Japan!

Small Thing Number Eleven: Make Appointments!

By make appointments, I mean make appointments for things you normally do yearly or monthly or however often. For example, hair cuts, dentist appointments, and, if you are like me, orthodontic appointments.While all these things are also in Japan, you will probably want to use the ones you are used to instead of trying to find one in Japan. Basically try to get as many of these types of appointments as possible out of the way before you leave.

I get my hair cut about once a year. It's super long (like down to the waistband of my pants) and cut very simply, so due to it's simplicity I don't have to get it cut very often. For me, as long as I get my hair cut within a couple months of going to Japan and don't stay in Japan for over a year, my hair will be just fine. Most people, however, get their hair cut a lot more often than I do. In this case, I would recommend getting it cut right before you leave and depending on how long you stay, either let it grow out a bit or try to find a hairdresser.

For dental appointments, if you are due for an appointment anytime 4-6 months from when you leave I would recommend you get your teeth cleaned before that. The reason for the long time past when you leave for your trip is because for one you will want to have cleaner teeth when you are leaving for Japan because why not and you also may decide to stay longer than anticipated so not getting overdue on such things is a plus.

And now for the last of my examples, orthodontic appointments. If you are not seeing an orthodontist then this doesn't apply to you but I have braces so this is something I have to consider. With braces, you have to get them messed with every 5-6 weeks, and if I'm going to go to Japan it's going to be for longer than that. You can skip appointments, but it does mean your braces may get a little wonky and you will have to be in them for that much longer. This fall I didn't get my braces messed with for probably three months because right when I was supposed to have my next appointment I went to go work on a trail crew for five weeks. If you are going to be in Japan for 1-3 months, I would recommend just getting your braces tightened the week before you leave and then have another appointment the week you get back. For longer trips, I would consult your orthodontist for what they recommend.

For me personally, I have a hair appointment for next week, which will cover me for at least the next six months. I'm probably due for a dental appointment in the fall, so if I go to Japan this summer I may bump up that appointment to before I leave. As for braces, I've had my braces for 2.5 years already and am getting fairly close to getting them taken off. In order to speed this up I have been making sure to wear the rubber bands for my braces (I have jaw problems...yay) and making my appointments every five weeks instead of every six weeks in order to save time. I'm still not entirely sure how much longer I need to be in braces but next time I see the orthodontist I will talk to them about when they expect for me to be ready to have my braces taken off and if it is possible for me to get them removed before I leave.

Small Thing Number Ten: Watch Anime!

I know this probably sounds odd but hear me out.

First of all, let me be more specific: watch subtitled anime. This means you are hearing all the dialogue in the original Japanese. Hearing the original Japanese, even if you don't understand it, will give you a better idea of how to pronounce things in addition to giving you hints about how to say things and can also teach you some words from context. I would personally recommend slice of life anime because with that the characters are in regular situations you may find yourself in so what is said and how it is said is actually helpful (unless you are going to be battling dragons or something in which case watch that kind of anime).

In addition to helping with pronunciation, it will also help you understand the culture a bit. How the characters interact with each other, how they behave in general, and what phrases are commonly used can be seen frequently in slice of life anime and are important things to get a grasp for if you want to understand the culture better. My Japanese teacher had us watch the movie "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" because it showed a good range of who the main character interacted with and how she behaved and spoke around each of them. My teacher also said that how school life is depicted in that was fairly accurate to how it was for her. It's also just a good move.

Anyway, go watch some subtitled anime! Slice of life anime happens to be my favorite so if you want a couple recommendations I can give you some :D

Small Thing Number Nine: Walk and Bike More!

In Japan, and pretty much everywhere else besides the United States, people walk and bike a lot more. If you are from the United States like myself and are used to driving everywhere, this is something you are going to want to get used to.

Now, I live in a rural area so it simply isn't safe (people drive crazy) or make sense (6mi/10km from our small town proper and the freeway) for me to walk places I need to go. While I can walk around our property, which is beautiful, I don't really like to do that alone because we do live far enough out that there is some pretty major wildlife that could think I look tasty (also, I'm a wimp 😝). What I have been doing to sort of simulate the walking places is driving to one of the places I need to go and walking to the rest. I haven't done this a lot but I hope to do it more as the weather gets nicer.

The other thing is riding a bike. You may or may not be riding a bike but from what I can tell Japanese people like bikes and are good at riding them so you probably don't want to be falling off your bicycle if given one to ride. My bike has gears, which I still can't figure out, but I do know how to ride a bike. Again, it isn't really safe or effective to ride my bike on the roads up here, but I do have a plan for getting in more riding practice. Once I get some air back into the tires, I can put my bike in the back of my mom's car or the truck and take it down to my friend's house, who lives in the middle of suburban land. There it will be close to places I need to go and I could also go bike riding with my friend. Still have to run this by some people, but I do have a plan.

Small Thing Number Eight: Get LINE!

I have been emailing with the coordinator of a study abroad program and when he discovered I go to the same school as some Japanese girls from the program he asked if I had LINE and if so what was my LINE ID so he could give it to the girls. May have heard of LINE before, but I didn't actually know what it was. As it turns out, according to Rachel from the YouTube channel Rachel and Jun, LINE is the app in Japan and it's important to the friend making process. From what I can tell it is like Skype, social media, photo editor, and small games all rolled into one. Apparently it is quite common when you meet someone to ask for their LINE ID. There is also this magical function where you hit this button on the app and shake your phones near each other and the information is exchanged. Definitely more convenient than typing at times. This function will probably be especially important for me because my LINE ID isn't in Japanese and since it is my name, it uses two letters that don't even exist in the Japanese alphabets. Maybe that is a problem maybe it isn't. Guess I'll find out.

For now I just have a picture of myself for my profile picture and a picture of my cat as the background. There are a lot of really cute emoji type things in the app and I hope to start using it more soon. Don't fully know how it works but I will be learning!

Small Thing Number Seven: Look Into Products You May Need!

Japan is different than my home country, America, in a lot of ways. It's probably different from your home country too. Some differences are large and some are small but either way things are going to be different. In this particular post, I will be talking about two items that you will most likely need in Japan that you don't need in the US.

In Japan, most places don't have clothes dryers. This means you will have to hang dry all of your clothes. Clotheslines are effective but a method my mom has been using ever since she went to Japan 30 years ago is these laundry hangers (I don't really know how else to describe it). Basically it's a structure with clips hanging from it that you can hang over the rail of the shower or any other thing you can hang stuff from. My mom still has the one she got in Japan all those years ago! However, I think it is somewhat broken so we have new ones as well. My sister has them in her dorm  because it is an efficient way to dry clothing that can't be put in the dryer. We have the larger ones for socks and underwear and basically anything and these smaller ones can again be used for anything but are very convenient for hanging pants from.


Another thing you may need is a face mask. Many people in Japan wear them to either avoid germs in crowded places, avoid pollution, keep others from getting sick if they are sick, or for fashion. You can either use the disposable ones or get a cloth "fashion" one. I personally find them cute and have a tendency to catch colds so for me getting a face mask sounds like a good idea. Because I wanted a cute one, I took to Etsy. I found two that I liked, a Kuma bear one and a BTS one (I'm a major BTS fan).

While I don't need either of these yet I could get them and get used to using them before my trip. I could also get them once in Japan, considering these are standard items over there. For now I will keep these in mind and think of what other things I may need.

Small Thing Number Six: Take a Japanese Class!

I know I know this is pretty big but hear me out on this one.

In my three years of high school, I only took one year of language. Most colleges have a language requirement of two years of high school language or two terms of college language. The other language I was taking was Greek, which I wasn't particularly motivated to take another year of. Anyway, I became a full time community college student and in order to transfer I need two terms of foreign language. Japanese is really hard but I knew I wanted to go there someday so I signed up for a Japanese 101 class and have been taking that. Close to half my class has dropped it, but if you are going to go to Japan you might as well be confused now when you are in a place that speaks your own language.

Now I'm no overachiever but I have stayed in the class and my midterm grade was an A, so I must be doing something right. Anyhow, here are my tips for doing well in a Japanese class.

Tip #1: SHOW UP!!!
This is probably the most important part of doing well in any language class. Something like 93% of communication is nonverbal and language teachers use that to help you get the language faster. There is a lot of doing stuff and drawing pictures and following whoever actually knows what is going on.

Tip #2: DO THE HOMEWORK!!!
Do it fairly soon after it is assigned, too. I have seen people doing homework the day it is due and they usually have no idea what they are supposed to do because they forgot what we had covered in class.

Tip #3: STUDY BUDDY!!!
 I have only studied with a study buddy outside of class once but we do it constantly in class and let me tell you it's really helpful. You have to actually say the words and usually only one of you understands what you need to do so someone has to explain it and you can struggle together.

Tip #4: WRITE!!!
So there are 2 phonetic alphabets with 46 letters each and kanji which is scary to even think about. Anyway, writing anything and everything is helpful. What I did to help learn hiragana and katakana (definitely don't know them yet, by the way) is write it down on a whiteboard repetitively, using different colors of marker to keep things interesting.

Tip #5: TYPE!!!
Install a Japanese keyboard on your computer and phone. Have fun messing with typing things and send yourself random texts in Japanese, or confuse your friends by typing some random nonsense and they will think you are really smart. For example, くるま　を　ちゅしゃ　する　こと、きらい　です　looks pretty complicated and fancy but what I said is "I hate having to park my car."

Tip #6: DO SOMETHING EVERY DAY!!!
I don't necessarily follow my own advice on this but I at least try. Do a little bit of reading or writing or homework every day and it will help keep what you learned in class from falling out of your head.

Tip #7: WHEN YOU COUNT IN YOUR HEAD, COUNT IN JAPANESE!!!
It's in your head so nobody can look at you funny and you can get plenty of practice with numbers.

Tip #8: FIND THINGS TO TRY TO READ!!!
Go to the Asian grocery store and try to read the packaging or get a Japanese magazine and attempt to read it. You don't have to understand any of it, just practice reading stuff. 

Small Thing Number Five: Passport!

If you want to go to Japan you are going to need a passport. I already had a passport so this process was easier for me than it would be for a first passport. My passport expires at the end of the year so I needed a new one, and since I am over 16 I can get one that lasts me ten years. Means I am going to have braces in my passport photo for the next ten years, but who cares?

So here are some things you should know about getting a passport at different ages: if you are under 16, you can only get a five year passport and must have both parents with you; if you are over 16 but under 18 (where I am), then you can get a 10 year passport and only need one parent with you; and if you are over 18 you can get a ten year passport and be your own legal adult.

It takes six weeks to get a passport and they will last you five to ten years depending on your age so getting one sooner rather than later is a good idea.

I'm 17 and already have a passport, so this is what getting a passport looks like for the 16-17 year old range who already have a passport.

First step is to get passport photos taken. Go shopping with your parent at Costco or Walgreens or somewhere else that takes passport photos. Just go to the photo center before shopping, get your picture taken, then pick up the pictures on the way out.

Next step is to fill out the paperwork. Go here and print the form applicable to you, which for me was the DS-11. Make sure to read all the instructions and if you have a passport that will cover most of the ID requirements.

And after that it's time to head to the Public Services office! Get your passport, paperwork, photos, and another form of ID (like a driver's license) and put them all in a folder.

The stickers on my folder are from http://naruusprouts.tictail.com/  

UNBELIEVABLY cute stuff so definitely check out her store. 

If you are under 18 like myself, grab a parent to go with you. If you are under 16, make sure to grab both parents. This is a government office which means things are slow and boring so you may have to bribe your parents a bit with offering to do more chores.

ALSO NOTE that it's going to cost you money to get your passport. It cost me about $135 and they only take cash or check, so make sure you have that available.

When you get to the office, go to the passport counter and get your name on the list. Now you wait. I brought my Japanese books and handed one to my mom and we sat there and read those while we waited. While we were waiting some other guy and his mom were getting a passport and when the lady held up her hand to have them take the oath saying the information on the forms was correct the kid thought she was holding her hand up for a high five so he high fived her XD. Pretty sure he made that lady's day.

Eventually they will call you up and ask a few questions about your application, take your ID and your parent's ID and photocopy them, ask for money, take your old passport, and finally have you take the oath that all you wrote down is correct. After that you just have to wait six weeks for your new passport to arrive and your old one to be returned.

Small Thing Number Four: Get Books!

I know we have the whole internet to look up stuff but sometimes you just have to get old fashioned.

Grab your shoes folks because we are going shopping again! These were bought at a normal book store as well as my school bookstore and there is a bookstore at the local Asian grocery store so I may pick up books from there as well. I'll update this post as I acquire more books.

Thus far, I have these books:

Cool Japan Guide by Abby Denson - I picked this up at the local bookstore while looking through Japanese travel books because if there is a comic version of a book, always get the comic version! (that's my opinion, anyway) In addition to being a fun comic, it has a lot of useful information. This book goes beyond the basic eat this go here and delves into stuff that is really important but not necessarily something you would think of. For example, bathrooms in Japan are different from bathrooms in the US and so are toilets and how you bathe so all those are really important to understand. The book also goes into detail about transport and cool places to visit, including some really nerdy ones (nerds unite!). The book is 127 pages long and has a ton of really useful information in a very accessible format. HIGHLY recommend this book.

Point-and-Speak Phrasebook Japan by Toshiya Enomoto - I ended up with this book because it was part of the optional books for my Japanese class (I'll do a blog on that later). The author has a good sense of humor and does an awesome job explaining everything. In addition to the words being translated, there are often pictures associated with the translation bit and a collection of cultural notes in the back to help you better understand Japanese culture. Something interesting about this book is on the back there is a place where you can have people write stuff down for you. This is very interesting and I can only imagine how helpful having essentially a whiteboard with you could be.

5/27/2017 EDIT
I have acquired another book! One of my lovely friends gave it to me. It is called Japanese At A Glance published by Barron's. The particular edition I have is the fourth but I'm sure the other additions are nice too.

It's a fairly small book, only 4 by 6 inches/9.5 by 15cm, but there is a ton of information in there. It has tons of words and phrases organized by place or situation. It has decent dictionaries for both English to Japanese and Japanese to English. It's definitely small enough for me to easily carry around to either study or figure out how to say stuff. It isn't exactly easy to find stuff in quickly like the point and speak book is, but it has a ton of information in a small space.